Diabetes is a serious, chronic disease more prevalent in older adults and minorities. Documented differences in patient and provider perception of basic diabetes concepts used during medical interactions are likely to negatively influence patient outcomes. Further, because communication difficulties are frequent with older and minority patients, these patients may be at increased risk. Acknowledging and understanding differences in perceptions will improve the communication between providers and patients resulting in improved patient self-care behavior, greater patient satisfaction, and subsequently better patient outcomes. Utilizing a correlational design, the study aims to increase our understanding of patient behavior, motivation and expectations. Greater knowledge of the impact of diabetes on African Americans, in particular, may generate interventions that decrease the health disparity in this population. The study's finding will provide a foundation for the development of educational and behavioral interventions focused on diversity and cultural assessment in the clinical encounter. Building on our previous research with minority populations with diabetes, we will examine the understanding of diabetes-related concepts of health care providers, older African American patients with diabetes and older Caucasian patients with diabetes. Both patient and provider samples will be selected from the general community. Our long-term goals are to improve provider-patient communication and mutual understanding, and to increase both patient satisfaction and patient self-care behavior. The study has the following four aims: AIM 1: To identify and reliably measure the differences between health care providers' and patients' perception of diabetes concepts. AIM 2: To determine if differences between health care providers' and patients' perception of diabetes concepts influence patient self-care behavior. AIM 3: To determine if differences between health care providers' and patients' perception of diabetes concepts influences patient satisfaction with their diabetes care. AIM 4: To investigate the influence of the patients' ethnicity, age, education, and gender on perception differences of diabetes.